Laura Deck Stones

Laura is an attorney at Schwartz Hannum PC and a member of the Firm’s Labor and Employment and Education Practice groups. She provides counsel and representation to businesses, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions on a broad range of matters.

In the area of labor and employment law, Laura advises clients on claims of discrimination and harassment, employment agreements, investigations, and wage and hour disputes. She provides counsel on federal and state labor and employment laws, including in connection with employee handbooks, background checks, hiring and terminations, and employment agreements.

In the area of education law, Laura advises clients on matters involving students and families as well as employees, including contract disputes, vendor agreements, background checks, mandatory reporting, the receipt of federal funding, and the applicability of state and federal laws. Laura serves as an investigator (in Title IX and other contexts) for secondary and post-secondary educational institutions.

Prior to joining the Firm, Laura served as an attorney-adviser with the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., where she provided counsel on matters related to congressional oversight, including investigations by the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. In addition to her work on congressional investigations, she advised on the handling of sensitive and classified information, federal recordkeeping and transparency requirements, and labor and employment law. Prior to her federal service in Washington, she was a labor and employment associate at Proskauer Rose LLP in Boston, MA.

Laura received her J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School where she was Article Selection Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. Laura holds an M.A. in Security Studies with a concentration in U.S. National Security from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and a B.S. in International Relations and History from the London School of Economics and Political Science.